


You Decided the Ending

by lionandlamb (SDTS)



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: AU, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-03 02:12:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10233380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SDTS/pseuds/lionandlamb
Summary: AU. Will had thought he was over the relationship he had with his college professor, Hannibal Lecter. But a meeting in the university library has Will reflecting on their past and wondering about the future.





	

                Will knew he was there before he even saw him.

                It was as if the air changed in the library – a humming in his brain that he only ever felt whenever Hannibal was near. He dropped his pencil against the page where he had been scribbling down notes and risked a glance around the main floor of the library.

                Yet Will couldn’t see him. The university library had a smattering of students; mostly empty for a Saturday afternoon. The sun was slowly setting, casting an orange hue across the tables and nearby bookshelves. Will had forgotten his laptop in his haste to get here but now he longed for it; a screen he could duck behind in case he saw Hannibal.

                Not like that would work. If Will knew that he was here then so did Hannibal. Should he go? If he left now, perhaps he could get away from having to see him.

                He hadn’t seen Hannibal since the break-up. Was that the correct word for it? A student sleeping with their professor – Will wasn’t sure if such a secret and passionate few months was a relationship or something…sloppier. No matter what it was, Will had ended it for a few different reasons. None that he wanted to think about at the moment.

                In fact, he should be counting his blessings that he hadn’t run into Hannibal sooner. He was still a professor after all. Will didn’t have the art history class with Hannibal any longer but that didn’t mean he was free. But either Will had been good at hiding or Hannibal hadn’t been seeking him out…until now.

                On a whim, he closed his notebook and shoved it in his bag. He’d come back on Monday after his morning lecture. It would be crowded and Hannibal would be teaching. It was safer this way. For both of them.

*

                Will was the last to leave the lecture hall…and that wasn’t an accident. He lingered, pretending that he was finishing last minute notes before turning off his laptop. Dr. Lecter had noticed he was still here. Will could feel his gaze resting on him. What was he doing this for? To prove something to himself – to prove that the way he thought about his professor was due to stress and lack of sleep. Finals were approaching. He spent all day studying or attending classes. To think about Dr. Lecter this way was…

                “Mr. Graham? A question on today’s lesson?” Dr. Lector asked from in front of his desk.

                Will slung his bag over his shoulder, trying to figure out something to say that didn’t reveal why he had stuck around. He stopped in front of him. Dr. Lecter, with his face seemingly carved from marble and his suits that fit him impeccably, had a gaze that Will could never quite penetrate.

                “Just – slow to put everything away today.” Will managed to say but he could tell instantly that the doctor didn’t believe him.

                “You look a bit tired,” Dr. Lecter replied, leaning forward ever so slightly, “Long nights?”

                “Something like that.” Will mumbled.

                “With finals coming up, you should make sure to take care of yourself.” Dr. Lector said.

                Will was thinking about last night, how he had laid awake for hours and stared at the ceiling. Despite his best efforts, he had been thinking about the way Dr. Lecter spoke and moved during lectures. He liked his voice – the accent and timber of it – and the way he would spend a few extra seconds sometimes glancing over at Will during certain parts of the lecture.

                It was those small moments, almost impossible to catch yet Will somehow always did, that kept him tossing and turning at night until the bed sheets wrapped around his legs and he found himself thinking about things even….worse than what was already trailing through his mind.

                “You’re right,” Will went, snapping out of the memory, “Just a lot going on. But I enjoy your lectures.”

                He felt awkward and transparent. Dr. Lecter was steadily looking at him. The corners of his mouth quirked and for a split second, Will thought that he was going to smile. He had never seen him smile before. If it weren’t for the extra glances during class, Will would never think…

                _Would never think what?_

Before Dr. Lecter could reply, Will cleared his throat, “I should be going. Have a nice night, Dr. Lector.”

                He went to turn around but to his surprise, Dr. Lecter gently grabbed the sleeve of his sweater. Will hesitated, looking over his shoulder. He looked down at where Dr. Lecter was holding onto the sleeve.

                “Please. When class is over, you can just call me Hannibal.”

*

                Will decided to go through the back of the library. He’d take the long way around to his dorm. Better this way. As he walked past the reference section, he could see the doors – his escape. He was halfway there when someone lazily strolled out of the aisle, holding a large book in their hands. Their back was to Will but he stopped in his tracks. His throat tightened for a moment as he found himself staring at the back of Hannibal.

                Will cursed inwardly. Hannibal would have known that he would try to go through the back. He had probably been here, waiting for him and he had foolishly gone this way. Will should have…

                Will should have known. An unsettling feeling wiggled in his stomach. He should have known – and maybe he did. Some part of him could have gone this way, knowing Hannibal would be waiting. This was one of the reasons Will left. Hannibal seemed to squirm in his brain and know what he was thinking before he even did. It was unsettling.

                Hannibal turned around. The book was still open in his hands; Hannibal determined to pretended they had run into each other. Will’s breath caught at the sight of his ex-lover. He was unchanged yet there was something blank in the eyes – a shield that Hannibal had tossed up before deciding to see him.

                “Will,” Hannibal said quietly, “Nice to see you.”

                Will felt jumbled – emotions were running through him so quickly that it was all he could do not to turn around and storm away or pull Hannibal towards him. Conflicted, he stared at Hannibal a beat too long, revealing his inner turmoil.

                “You do not think this is an accident.” Hannibal posed it as a statement rather than a question.

                “Nothing is with you, Dr. Lecter.” Will replied, finding his voice.

                “Back to formalities?” This was a question – but the tone was light; he was teasing him.

                Will could feel his skin flush. Hannibal had moved towards him during the short exchange. It was too close for comfort. Close enough that he could –

                “You went back to that terrible aftershave.” Hannibal remarked.

                “Yeah, well, I only wore it because you didn’t like it. I never minded it.” Will retorted.

                Will had taken a step back, against the shelf, as Hannibal had taken a step forward. His back was pressed against the row of books. Hannibal put the book on the shelf next to him but left his hand there, blocking him from darting off towards the exit. They were dangerously close and yet…Will had missed this. As much as he hated to admit it.

*

                Will’s head was resting on Hannibal’s chest. He could feel Hannibal’s fingers making slow, lazy circles on his bare back; drawing something that only he would know. The morning light peeked through the blinds. Will was going to miss class if he didn’t leave. He always lingered too long in the mornings with Hannibal.

                “I should go.” He mumbled sleepily.

                “I don’t have a lecture until this afternoon.”

                “I have class in thirty minutes. I’m already going to be late.” Will said but he didn’t move right away.

                Hannibal, his professor, who had courted and wooed Will steadily in his own unique way, breaking him down until he had tumbled into bed with him months ago - who had begun to mean a little too much to Will for his own liking, kissed the top of his head. The gesture was kind; something that didn’t happen too often. Hannibal, as Will was coming to learn, played his cards close to his chest. He seemingly knew what Will wanted underneath any protests or attempts to hide his feelings. He loved it…hated it…and danced with it.

                “I wouldn’t want my best student failing because of me.” Hannibal replied lightly and Will took that as his cue to untangle himself from him.

                He did so with a pang of longing. All of this was wrong. There was the age difference, for one thing. Hannibal had been his professor last semester for another. Not to mention that Will wasn’t used to feeling this way about anyway, with the added effect that it was an older man. All of it was new to him whereas Hannibal seemed incredibly experienced. Will felt outmatched.

                But the longing was because ultimately, he wanted to stay. He would blow off class if Hannibal asked him to – but Hannibal never outright did. No, if Will were to come to him, it would be willingly.

                And yet, Will was afraid. There was something different about Hannibal. Something cold and calculating underneath that stony exterior. The same thing that Will was attracted to was also the thing that made him the most nervous. He felt like he was toppling down a relationship that couldn’t work out – how in the world could something like this work out?

                Will went to get out of Hannibal’s bed when he reached out for him. He tugged Will towards him and brought him in for a kiss. Cupping the side of Will’s face and tugging on his bottom lip with his teeth, Hannibal’s kiss was one that threatened to bring him tumbling back into bed.

                But he groaned and pulled away, “I can’t. Class.”

                And even though all Will wanted to do was topple back into Hannibal’s bed, he left his lover behind to attend class.

*

                “I have no interest in talking to you,” Will whispered through clenched teeth, “So, move your hand.”

                There was a flicker of something behind Hannibal’s eyes – a real emotion – but it was gone so quickly that Will thought he had imagined it.

                “It’s merely catching up. Between friends.” Hannibal’s tone was light but for once, Will wasn’t fooled.

                “Don’t. You’re why –” He heard someone in the row behind them and his breath caught.

                Hannibal lowered his hand, feigning a casualness in case the person came around the corner. Will realized his chest hurt from how quickly his heart was racing. Frustrating Hannibal; emotionless Hannibal – even after Will had left him because he had convinced himself it couldn’t work out, he couldn’t help but dwell on the time they had together.

                Hannibal was running a finger down one of the spines on a book. Will traced Hannibal’s jawline in his mind, admired the way the light landed on his cheekbones –

                The person who was in the row behind them left. They were alone again. Incredibly close.

                “You’re why I left,” Will continued quietly, “What am I supposed to do? With us? With whatever…this is? It only has one ending, Hannibal.”

                “You decided the ending, Will, not me.” Hannibal remarked in the infuriating tone of his.

                Will pushed past him. Hannibal didn’t stop him on the way out.

*

                Had he decided the ending? Maybe he had. Maybe in his brain, Will had decided that Hannibal wasn’t right for him. For all the reasons that he was falling in love for him, there were still the glaring differences of age and student/teacher rules they had broken. When he had left Hannibal, it had felt like the correct thing to do. There was no future for them.

                Or so he had thought. But the memories of nights with Hannibal – those long, passionate nights when homework lay forgotten and lectures unwritten – or the mornings where Hannibal would cook breakfast because Will could hardly make toast – were flicking across his brain in all techno colour glory.

                Will had panicked. It was true. And now…

                It was past midnight when he made it to Hannibal’s house and knocked on the door. He wasn’t sure if he was still going to be awake. Or even want to see him again after what happened in the library…

                But the door opened. Hannibal was wearing an oversized sweater and sweatpants and his hair was slightly messy. There were circles under his eyes. He looked…human. A vulnerability that Will had never seen before.

                He knew he had made the right choice in coming back – in trying this again.

                Hannibal moved away from the door, granting him access.

                “Come in, Will.”

                And Will entered.


End file.
